I'm one of the few who actually feel more positive about the game after this release. Then again, I didn't have high expectation in the first place.
The overall "feel" looks
rough to me, but I can't tell what exactly is doing that (2 more months to polish guys).
I feel more positive (mostly more relieved) because the game world seems really imaginative (e.g., The rotating human-face column in the night mission, and the earlier giant sea creatures). So it looks like there should be some variety in gameplay.
I was also a little concerned the dragons would animate like wooden planes with mechanical flapping wings based on some of the early scenes (especially the hundreds of dragons demo). The latest videos showed quite a few interesting behaviour. Unfortunately they still have some control issues to work out.
I am very glad the dragons can swallow up grown men. I will do that a lot.
(Yay !). I believe the slow-down in the "Rampage/On the Ground" video is just to show off the eating capability. Don't give me (too many) escort missions though ...coz I hate them.
Now that I see the game in motion for real the first time, I think I will also like the busy-ness of the game world... It's akin to flying from point A to B in the middle of a huge, lively "real-time strategy game". The AI and level design will be critical, like how opponents storm my bases in waves. I remember there are more than 1 opposing tribes ? So the game may get hectic as they pull out more advanced weaponry (larger mamas ?), and grow more desparate in end-game.
My check list is:
* Dragon control must be refined and deep as highlighted so well in the article.
* Polish and pace the attacks of the tribes like in a RTS game. I think this will make or break the game.
In Warcraft, sometimes I needed to defend a base.. but it's always up to me how to achieve that. So I hope F5 truly means it this way. The "Kill 2000 soldiers" mission is hopefully just an introductory level. I wish the real game just says "Defend Outpost against Oprah's fans"... whether it's 2000 or 5000 or just 200, play balance it and make it interesting.
As a bonus, they should show some high level indicators of the remaining tribes in the game world. They will help to drive how I play the game.
Camera looks fine so far. Show me more details. I'm sticking around for the moment.
EDIT:
I just saw the latest game trailer videos, the mini-towers on the bridge are destructible too
... and "Wow !" at the giant animals. [Argh ! I have too many stuff running on my laptop for work now. Will have to watch the videos again at a later time (They are too choppy)].
